Australian Charts: Ariana Grande ‘thank u, next’ is no 1 again

For the second time in 2019 an album has reclaimed the top spot on the ARIA Albums Chart, as this week “thank u, next” for Ariana Grande climbs back up one spot to reign again in the No.1 spot here.

“thank u, next” topped the chart for two weeks four weeks ago before being knocked off last week, and now this week Ariana lands an overall third week in the No.1 slot, while last year this occurred three times (Ed Sheeran, Post Malone and Drake), this is now the second time during this year that an album has gone back to the top spot, as “A Star is Born” did it for a week in early February.

This fifth Ariana album was already her longest running No.1 album here, and it increases that tally to now three weeks at the Aussie summit, while overall this is now her sixth week at No.1 here, moving her from equal 115th to now equal 102nd on the list for ‘Accumulated Weeks at No.1: Albums (1965 to 2019) alongside the six weeks racked up by AC/DC (from 5 #1’s), John Butler Trio (also from 4 #1’s), Bob Dylan (3 #1’s), Phil Collins, Oasis and Queen (all with two No.1’s). While last weeks leaders in The Hilltop Hoods and now Ariana Grande have racked up six weeks at No.1 during this decade and are equal 9th on the accumulation listing for the 2010’s.

So The Hilltop Hoods are down one spot to No.2 with their sixth No.1 set “The Great Expanse”, only their second of six chart-topping albums to only fall a single place from the top spot, as 2014’s “Walking Under Stars” dropped to No.2 after two weeks at No.1, all of the other four chart toppers fell to No.3, 4 or 5. Apart from the top two albums swapping places, the remainder of the Top 7 are all on hold this week, with the returning US (4th wk) and Canadian (10th wk) No.1 album being the Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper soundtrack for “A Star is Born” at No.3, followed by three albums by Queen in the soundtrack for “Bohemian Rhapsody” at No.4, their “Greatest Hits” at No.5 and also their “Platinum Collection” at No.6, while the just announced Hugh Jackman August live tour here keeps his films soundtrack for ‘The Greatest Showman’ stable at No.7.

The highest new entry comes in at No.8 and is the second studio album for Irish musician Hozier entitled “Wasteland, Baby!”, instantly becoming his second Top 10 album in Australia, as his self titled debut set eventually peaked at No.3 in April of 2015 (it was issued in October of 2014 and first hit the Top 10 in January of 2015), spending eleven weeks within our Top 10. Climbing back up three places apiece are Ed Sheeran’s “÷ (Divide)” (HP-1×27, WI10-96a) and “Beerbongs & Bentleys” for Post Malone (HP-1×2, WI10-32a) to No.9 and No.10 respectively.

UP:
* With the debut studio album for Billie Eilish due at the end of March, her current charting EP “Don’t Smile at Me” is back up to No.11 thanks to a new singles chart entry (from the new LP).
* Amy Shark played at the Adelaide 500 on March the 1st and is set to tour the country from early May (she plays at the W.A. festival ‘Way Out West’ on the 27th of April), and her album “Love Monster” rebounds seventeen places this week to land at No.30.
* The Queen “Greatest Hits II” set rises back up three places to No.27, while further rising collections are by Cold Chisel (43 to 40), Guns N’ Roses (65 to 54), The Wiggles (70 to 66), Crowded House (79 to 70) and ABBA (Gold, 94 to 84).
* Rufus du Sol fell last week with their “Solace” set, but this week it is back up seven places to No.32.
* This past week saw the passing of Keith Flint, co front-man from The Prodigy, and the bands biggest selling album and only No.1 set here “The Fat of the Land” (peaked July 1997) returns at No.34.
* Current tourists to our shores in The Arctic Monkeys see their “AM” set rise up eleven to No.45.
* Rita Ora rises five places to No.46 with her “Phoenix” album.
* Jonas Blue and his “Blue” album rebound ten places to climb back up to No.75.
* Two further returning albums this week are “Rumours” for Fleetwood Mac at No.79 and the Guns N’ Roses set “Appetite for Destruction” (#98).
* After their recent tour here the turn-of-the-century album for RHCP’s and “Californication” is this week up ten places to No.88.

DOWN:
* There are three albums leaving the Top 10 this week, two of last weeks debuts plummet down into the lower fifty in the Julia Jacklin set “Crushing” (8 to 60) and “Distance Over Time” for Dream Theater (10 to 71), while recent tourist Eminem is down three places to No.12 with his “Kamikaze” (HP-1×2, WI10-13a) album, while he is also down with his collection “Curtain Call: The Hits” (11 to 13) but more-so with his older albums “The Eminem Show” (25 to 58) and “Recovery” (46 to 87), plus he departs with “Revival” (#66), “Slim Shady LP” (#74), “The Marshall Mathers LP 2” (#86) and “Encore” (#95).
* Now that the Red Hot Chili Peppers tour wound up last week their “Greatest Hits” set is back down four to No.23, with other falling best of sets being by INXS (48 to 51), Pink (50 to 52), Maroon 5 (40 to 55), Elton John (Diamonds 42 to 57, Rocket Man 63 to 80), Foo Fighters (84 to 85), ABBA (Gold & More 89 to 92) and Phil Collins (81 to 96).
* Florida Georgia Line fall down seven spots to No.29 with “Can’t Say I Ain’t Country”.
* Ziggy Alberts’ “Laps Around the Sun” drops down twelve places to rest at No.38 this week.
* Imagine Dragons’ “Origins” is only down four places to No.41, while their older album “Evolve” falls sixteen spots to No.89.
* Albums which debuted last week (outside of the Top 10) to gain a second week within the Top 100 are by Offset (“Father of 4” 18 to 43), the mixtape for Kehlani “While We Wait” (29 to 93) and Lil’ Pump with “Harverd Dropout” (33 to 95).
* Both entries for Sticky Fingers move down this week, with their most recent entry “Yours to Keep” down fourteen places to No.49 and their older entry “Caress Your Soul” down twelve to #100.
* The Hilltop Hoods three year old entry “Drinking… Walking… Restrung” drops back down fourteen places to No.50 now that their tour with Eminem is over.
* Soundtracks sliding down are for ‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse’ (55 to 61), ‘Black Panther’ (54 to 69), ‘Molly’ (71 to 77) and last weeks returnee ‘Forrest Gump’ (61 to 91).
* Bring Me the Horizon album “AMO” leaves the Top 50 after five weeks, dropping down sixteen places to No.65.
* Ocean Alley’s “Chiaroscuro” also falls down sixteen places to land at No.68.
* Sam Smith’s “The Thrill of it All” tumbles back down seventeen spots to No.75.
* Jess Glynne slides down thirteen spots to No.82 with her second set “Always in Between”.
* Nicki Minaj’s “Queen” set drops eleven chart rungs to No.86.
* The only album leaving the Top 100 from last weeks Top 50 is the Gary Clark Jr. set “This Land” from No.23.

FURTHER NEW ENTRIES:
* #15 (LP#8) – Tasmania by POND is now the fifth charted album for the Perth band and it enters at their previously highest charted album, “Man it Feels Like Space Again” (LP#6, HP-15, Feb 2015), while they last charted with their seventh album “The Weather” (HP-33, May 2017).

* #17 (LP#4) – When I Get Home by Solange was a surprise release last Friday, and her fourth album is now her second to chart here, and it also surpasses the No.21 peak of her third album “A Seat at the Table” (peaked October 2016).

* #18 (LP#1) – What a Time to Be Alive by Tom Walker is the Scotsman’s debut album and it also enters at No.1 in England and his home country of Scotland this week, plus it contains his former No.20 single “Leave a Light on” (peaked back in October of 2018).

* #20 (LP#2) – Shelby by Lil’ Skies (born Kimetrius Foose in Pennsylvania in 1998) is the second album and now the second entry here for the U.S. rapper, whose debut album “Life of a Dark Rose” spent a week on the charts at No.92 here in early February of 2018, so this new album far surpasses that albums peak.

* #21 (LP#14) – Shine a Light by Bryan Adams is the 17th albums chart entry for the Canadian singer/songwriter (12 studio, 2 Live, 3 Greatest Hits) who first charted here with his third album “Cuts Like a Knife” (HP-32, peaked mid-April of 1984, first charted here in June of 1983), while this new albums title track was written by Ed Sheeran, on the album Bryan also duets with Jennifer Lopez and does a cover of the traditional song “Whiskey in the Jar”.

* #35 (LP#5) – Rap or Go to the League by 2 Chainz saw his last album “Pretty Girls Like Trap Music” (LP#4, HP-52, June 2017) become his first chart entry here, and now this new album becomes his first Top 50 set here. The album also sees his perform with Young Thug, Travis Scott, Kendrick Lamar, Ariana Grande, Ty Dolla $ign, Lil’ Wayne, E-40 and Kodak Black.

* #37 (LP#1) – Shadowboxer by Mansionair is the debut album for the Sydney electronic trio, who first released their debut EP back in 2015 entitled “Pick Me Up”.

* #48 (LP#13) – I, the Mask by In Flames is the fourth album in a row to chart for the Swedish melodic death metal act, with all four albums having reached the Top 50, “Sounds of a Playground Fading” (LP#10, HP-50 peaked July 2011), “Siren Charms” (LP#11, HP-33 peaked Sept 2014) and they last charted with “Battles” (LP#12, HP-38 peaked November 2016).

* #56 (LP#5) – Beautiful Destruction by The Viper Creek Band is the local country acts third albums chart entry after “Kickin’ Up Dust” (LP#3, HP-59 peaked March 2014) and “Just Press Play” (LP#4, HP-50 peaked Sept 2016), with the foursome recently performing during the January 2019 Tamworth Country Music Festival.

* #63 (LP#4) – SO WHAT! by While She Sleeps is the fourth album for British metalcore band and now their second to chart as their last issued album “You Are We” debuted and peaked at No.26 in early May of 2017.

* #73 (GH#4) – The Best of Everything-The Definitive Career Spanning Collection by Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers is the second posthumous release since Tom Petty’s passing in October of 2017, with “An American Treasure” being the last, peaking at No.80. This new collection features 38 tracks from his solo career and with his band The Heartbreakers.

* #97 (LP#1) – Anesthetic by Mark Morton is the debut album for the lead guitarist for heavy metal act Lamb of God.